1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to data processing systems and in particular to methods for accelerated web page navigation using keyboard accelerators within data processing systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Web sites often contain information that spans more than one page. For example, when a search engine (e.g., Google®, a registered trademark of Google, Inc.) is used to perform a search, the search result is generally separated and split across multiple pages. Thus, quick navigation across these multiple web pages is quite difficult. To navigate, a user will typically have to use a mouse to click directly on a desired link to navigate across web pages. Alternatively a user may use the “Forward” and “Back” buttons for web page navigation that are often provided by web browsers. However, the “Forward” and “Back” buttons typically only provide navigation to previously visited web pages. Keyboard navigation is also available within web browsers based on the tab index of a web page (e.g., a user can successively press the “tab” button on a keyboard to move around the web page to a particular link that the user would like to access). However, keyboard navigation using the tab index of a web page can be very non-deterministic in its behavior and can often be counter-productive. Whether using a mouse or a keyboard, these navigation techniques require considerable input from the user.